During one of our soft skill training's we were asked to do an activity involving two people. They were made to stand one behind the other maintaining an arms distance between them. The person in front was to stand cross armed, close their eyes and fall back on their partners without taking any support, in any form, from her/his body. This includes no bending of knees, no letting go of our cross armed positions. Just falling backwards with our eyes closed. The exercise might sound simple as hell. But when it was my turn, just one look at the fragile girl who was taking her position to hold me as I fall, was enough to give me goosebumps. I thought, falling is embarrassing and when there is an audience embarrassment increases tenfold!! I failed in the first few attempts. Wanting to get done with the fiasco I decided to close my eye and take the plunge, backwards!!! As frail as the girl looked she could balance me! Moral of the story - you are never as fat as you think you are!!! <winks!>
The experience was done and dusted. Its only till recently did I realize the actual motive of it when I encountered a similar exercise in a book by Dr Joseph Murphy. Eyes are windows to the world. But it's been established time and again that what you see, cannot be believed. A perfect example of this would be Lady Justice. She has always been shown with a blindfold. This signifies an objective approach to things. In a mystical representation I can say there's always something more to things that what we see. So seeing is not believing. Coz more often than not, we see what we want to. We see fear coz we are scared of losing, we see failure coz we can't define success, we see pain, for we fear happiness would be short lived, we refuse love for the fear of losing it.
When you close you eyes, you shut yourself from the outside world. A perfect example would be the typical ghost scare all of us experienced as children. What did you do when you thought there was a ghost lurking in the corner of your room or under your bed? Most of us pulled up the sheets, covered our face, shut our eyes real tight so that no ghost could open them, even if he were to use all his might and prayed ourselves to sleep!!! Only to find ourselves unharmed the next day!
Now, coming back to the motive of the exercise. If we had kept our eyes open during the "fall" there would be a lotta doubts knocking our little brains. "What if I fall?", "I am gotta get laughed at royally!!!", "Why the hell am I doing this???" and blah blah. Even half a thought of such kind is enough for a person to say "I am not going ahead with this! This is lame!". This exercise is not about seeing how good are you at falling or how the other person excels in holding you just before you crack your skull. This is about building trust. Shutting your eyes to all your apprehensions, pushing your fears aside and embracing a world where, quite frankly you don't have a lot of say! Most importantly, trusting the fact that you are gonna be safe in that unknown kingdom.
In the so called "Kaliyug" trust is almost extinct. I guess that is one of the root causes of the downfall staring the society in its face! Since I have never been a "society person" I am not gonna expound on that topic anymore. But on a personal level, I truly believe that trust can do more than a lot of virtues put together. When you truly believe that there is a guiding force by your side and you acknowledge it, you cannot be harmed.
This concept has been beautifully explained under the name "Dark Night" in the book I am currently reading. A very apt name as generally dark is associated with evil. Hence, the not so appeasing side of humans is the "dark side". After every night comes a day, they say, hinting that night symbolizes all that's wrong with the world. But if you are able to understand the essence of dark night, you will be able to push through dark nights in your life with a faith that they will fade away leaving you stronger and teaching you skills required to lead a better life. Face the dark with the light of faith.
P.S : Recommendations - Brida by Paulo Coelho
The experience was done and dusted. Its only till recently did I realize the actual motive of it when I encountered a similar exercise in a book by Dr Joseph Murphy. Eyes are windows to the world. But it's been established time and again that what you see, cannot be believed. A perfect example of this would be Lady Justice. She has always been shown with a blindfold. This signifies an objective approach to things. In a mystical representation I can say there's always something more to things that what we see. So seeing is not believing. Coz more often than not, we see what we want to. We see fear coz we are scared of losing, we see failure coz we can't define success, we see pain, for we fear happiness would be short lived, we refuse love for the fear of losing it.
When you close you eyes, you shut yourself from the outside world. A perfect example would be the typical ghost scare all of us experienced as children. What did you do when you thought there was a ghost lurking in the corner of your room or under your bed? Most of us pulled up the sheets, covered our face, shut our eyes real tight so that no ghost could open them, even if he were to use all his might and prayed ourselves to sleep!!! Only to find ourselves unharmed the next day!
Now, coming back to the motive of the exercise. If we had kept our eyes open during the "fall" there would be a lotta doubts knocking our little brains. "What if I fall?", "I am gotta get laughed at royally!!!", "Why the hell am I doing this???" and blah blah. Even half a thought of such kind is enough for a person to say "I am not going ahead with this! This is lame!". This exercise is not about seeing how good are you at falling or how the other person excels in holding you just before you crack your skull. This is about building trust. Shutting your eyes to all your apprehensions, pushing your fears aside and embracing a world where, quite frankly you don't have a lot of say! Most importantly, trusting the fact that you are gonna be safe in that unknown kingdom.
In the so called "Kaliyug" trust is almost extinct. I guess that is one of the root causes of the downfall staring the society in its face! Since I have never been a "society person" I am not gonna expound on that topic anymore. But on a personal level, I truly believe that trust can do more than a lot of virtues put together. When you truly believe that there is a guiding force by your side and you acknowledge it, you cannot be harmed.
This concept has been beautifully explained under the name "Dark Night" in the book I am currently reading. A very apt name as generally dark is associated with evil. Hence, the not so appeasing side of humans is the "dark side". After every night comes a day, they say, hinting that night symbolizes all that's wrong with the world. But if you are able to understand the essence of dark night, you will be able to push through dark nights in your life with a faith that they will fade away leaving you stronger and teaching you skills required to lead a better life. Face the dark with the light of faith.
P.S : Recommendations - Brida by Paulo Coelho
'Right now, while we're here eating, ninety-nine per cent of the people on this planet are, in their own way, struggling with that very question. Why are we here? Many think they've found the answer in religion or in materialism. Other despair and spend their lives and their money trying to grasp the meaning of it all. A few let the question go unanswered and live for the moment, regardless on the results or the consequences.'
ReplyDelete'Only the brave and those who understand the Traditions of the Sun and the Moon are aware that the only possible answer to the question is I DON'T KNOW'